Pakistan : Unlocking Private Sector Growth through Increased Trade and Investment Competitiveness
Evidence suggests that Pakistan has the potential for much faster and more diversified economic growth. Energizing trade can help Pakistan to realize its growth potential. Pakistan’s inward-oriented trade policies have had the effect of stalling Pa...
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| Format: | Technical Paper |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2019
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/690221570175003187/Pakistan-Unlocking-Private-Sector-Growth-through-Increased-Trade-and-Investment-Competitiveness http://hdl.handle.net/10986/32504 |
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okr-10986-325042021-05-25T09:28:11Z Pakistan : Unlocking Private Sector Growth through Increased Trade and Investment Competitiveness Rocha, Nadia Varela, Gonzalo TRADE AND INVESTMENT GLOBAL VALUE CHAIN TRADE POLICY EXCHANGE RATES POVERTY REDUCTION RESOURCE ALLOCATION CUSTOMS AND BORDER MANAGEMENT EXPORT COMPETITIVENESS Evidence suggests that Pakistan has the potential for much faster and more diversified economic growth. Energizing trade can help Pakistan to realize its growth potential. Pakistan’s inward-oriented trade policies have had the effect of stalling Pakistan’s integration into regional and global value chains (GVCs). Pakistan’s failure to reform its trade policy to better foster export competitiveness can be attributed in part to institutional fragmentation within the government. This fragmentation has resulted in different agencies sometimes working at cross purposes. Efforts to reduce tariffs have been offset by the introduction of alternative protection instruments such as regulatory duties (RDs) and firm-specific special regulatory orders (SROs). In addition to tariffs, RDs and SROs, other obstacles to global integration include a heavy regulatory burden and perceived risks to investing and operating in the country, which have hurt efforts to attract foreign direct investment (FDI). Growth and competitiveness are also inhibited by inefficient trade facilitation policies, weak logistics services, and underdeveloped infrastructure. These constraints have made it difficult for Pakistan to fully exploit its proximity to China, a trade powerhouse, with which it has a free trade agreement. All in all, the anti-export bias of Pakistan’s trade policy has made it more difficult for outward-looking firms to grow by accessing global markets. A series of actions in the areas of trade policy, trade facilitation and connectivity, and institutional coordination could potentially stimulate Pakistan’s growth through increased trade and investment competitiveness. Integration with other countries in the region and neighboring regions, particularly East Asia, will allow Pakistan to diversify both its product basket and markets. Finally, full normalization of trade relations with India would allow Pakistan to benefit from India’s fast growth and promote complementarities, including valuechain activities and investment potential. 2019-10-07T19:49:45Z 2019-10-07T19:49:45Z 2018-10 Technical Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/690221570175003187/Pakistan-Unlocking-Private-Sector-Growth-through-Increased-Trade-and-Investment-Competitiveness http://hdl.handle.net/10986/32504 English CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Economic & Sector Work Economic & Sector Work :: Foreign Trade, FDI, and Capital Flows Study South Asia Pakistan |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English |
| topic |
TRADE AND INVESTMENT GLOBAL VALUE CHAIN TRADE POLICY EXCHANGE RATES POVERTY REDUCTION RESOURCE ALLOCATION CUSTOMS AND BORDER MANAGEMENT EXPORT COMPETITIVENESS |
| spellingShingle |
TRADE AND INVESTMENT GLOBAL VALUE CHAIN TRADE POLICY EXCHANGE RATES POVERTY REDUCTION RESOURCE ALLOCATION CUSTOMS AND BORDER MANAGEMENT EXPORT COMPETITIVENESS Rocha, Nadia Varela, Gonzalo Pakistan : Unlocking Private Sector Growth through Increased Trade and Investment Competitiveness |
| geographic_facet |
South Asia Pakistan |
| description |
Evidence suggests that Pakistan has the
potential for much faster and more diversified economic
growth. Energizing trade can help Pakistan to realize its
growth potential. Pakistan’s inward-oriented trade policies
have had the effect of stalling Pakistan’s integration into
regional and global value chains (GVCs). Pakistan’s failure
to reform its trade policy to better foster export
competitiveness can be attributed in part to institutional
fragmentation within the government. This fragmentation has
resulted in different agencies sometimes working at cross
purposes. Efforts to reduce tariffs have been offset by the
introduction of alternative protection instruments such as
regulatory duties (RDs) and firm-specific special regulatory
orders (SROs). In addition to tariffs, RDs and SROs, other
obstacles to global integration include a heavy regulatory
burden and perceived risks to investing and operating in the
country, which have hurt efforts to attract foreign direct
investment (FDI). Growth and competitiveness are also
inhibited by inefficient trade facilitation policies, weak
logistics services, and underdeveloped infrastructure. These
constraints have made it difficult for Pakistan to fully
exploit its proximity to China, a trade powerhouse, with
which it has a free trade agreement. All in all, the
anti-export bias of Pakistan’s trade policy has made it more
difficult for outward-looking firms to grow by accessing
global markets. A series of actions in the areas of trade
policy, trade facilitation and connectivity, and
institutional coordination could potentially stimulate
Pakistan’s growth through increased trade and investment
competitiveness. Integration with other countries in the
region and neighboring regions, particularly East Asia, will
allow Pakistan to diversify both its product basket and
markets. Finally, full normalization of trade relations with
India would allow Pakistan to benefit from India’s fast
growth and promote complementarities, including valuechain
activities and investment potential. |
| format |
Technical Paper |
| author |
Rocha, Nadia Varela, Gonzalo |
| author_facet |
Rocha, Nadia Varela, Gonzalo |
| author_sort |
Rocha, Nadia |
| title |
Pakistan : Unlocking Private Sector Growth through Increased Trade and Investment Competitiveness |
| title_short |
Pakistan : Unlocking Private Sector Growth through Increased Trade and Investment Competitiveness |
| title_full |
Pakistan : Unlocking Private Sector Growth through Increased Trade and Investment Competitiveness |
| title_fullStr |
Pakistan : Unlocking Private Sector Growth through Increased Trade and Investment Competitiveness |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Pakistan : Unlocking Private Sector Growth through Increased Trade and Investment Competitiveness |
| title_sort |
pakistan : unlocking private sector growth through increased trade and investment competitiveness |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2019 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/690221570175003187/Pakistan-Unlocking-Private-Sector-Growth-through-Increased-Trade-and-Investment-Competitiveness http://hdl.handle.net/10986/32504 |
| _version_ |
1764476678833176576 |